The present invention relates to a deceleration element for attachment to a tail end of a submunition unit for deployment when the submunition unit is ejected from a spin stabilized carrier projectile for reducing velocity and spin of the submunition unit.
EP-A 0,274,580 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,432 disclose a deceleration element of the above type which is composed of fabric or a plastic sheet, has the shape of a disk and may be provided with a supporting structure of radial and crossing strips of webbing or of a hem facing tape. Submunition units accommodated in a carrier projectile are provided with deceleration elements with different dimensions so that the submunition units are decelerated to a different degree after ejection, to thus be separated correspondingly.
The rate of rotation of a submunition unit ejected from a spin stabilized carrier projectile is a function of the firing command and is in a range between 50 and 250 Hz with the traveling velocity of the submunition unit being in a range from 100 to 350 m/s.